Moving-picture scenery.



R. HARTWICK, MOVING PICTURE SCENERY.. APPLICATION FILEP JULY 13.1917.

Patented Mar. 26, 1918. F/z".

F/EZ

RICHARD HARTWICK, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFOBNTA.

MOVING-PICTURE sonNEaY.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD HARTWICK,

a subject of the Emperor of Germany, re-

siding at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in liloving-Picture Scenery, of which the following is a specification.

The obgect of the present invention is to provide an lmproved construction of palnted .or artificial scenery for moving pictures.

WVhere it has been attempted heretofore to represent by moving pictures the motion of a man running, or on horseback, with painted scenery in the background, said representation has been defective, if the scenery has been painted on a single sheet of material, on account of the fact that objects in the background of the scenery are represented as moving past the person who is running or riding at the same rate as objects in the foreground, which, of course, is not a correct representation.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which this defect is eliminated.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a broken front view, certain parts being shown in vertical section, of my improved apparatus; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates an endless belt or platform traveling around rollers 2,. 3, mounted on shafts 4, rotating in bearings-in the upper ends of standards 6. Motion is imparted to said moving plat-- form by means of a cross belt 7 traveling around apulley 8 on one of said shafts, and also around a pulley 9 of an electric motorlO. Between said rollers 2, 3. and supporting the upper portions of said belt, are stationary rollers 11. The person or object represented as moving in the moving pictures will travel on said belt at the same speed at which the belt moves backward beneath him so that he will be constantly maintained in the field of view of the moving picture camera.

Behind said endless moving platform" or belt are two vertical shafts 12, of which the upper and lower ends are mounted respectively in bearings in upper and lower supports 13, 14. The lower portions of said shafts pass through hubs 16, and are secured thereto by set screws 17, said hubs .Lfor rotating sa1 conesln unison about their Specification ofietters Patent.

23 to said vertical shafts 12.

next upper section.

Patented Mar. 26, 1918.

AppIication filed July 13, 1917. Serial No. 180,349.

being rotatably supported by ball races 18 upon suitable supports 19 secured by bolts to the lower supports 14. Said hubs form the central portions of disks 21, forming the bases of stepped cones 22, the upper portions of which are secured by set screws Hubs 24 of upper stepped cones 26 are also secured to the upper portions of said shafts. Around the steps of the lower cones are belt sections 27 the upper edge of each section being on a level with the lower edge of the 27 are painted portions of scenery, the lowest or outermost belt section being painted to represent the nearest portion of the scenery and the upper belt sections being painted to represent the successively more remote portions of said scenery. It is evident that if said shafts and cones be rotated, the lower or outer belt sections will rotate faster than the upper and more remote sections. Indeed, if a belt be passed around the shafts 12 themselves, scenery painted on this portion of the belt would scarcely appear to move at all. Around the steps of the upper stepped cones extend cords 30 or bands, to which are attached tops of the representations of trees, telegraph poles, or the like, the lower portions of which are attached to, and move with, the lower belt sections.

The lowest or outermost belt section,

should move inthe same direction and with the same speed as the traveling belt or platform, and for this purpose the motor shaft carries a miter gear 28 which meshes with a mitergear 29 on a shaft 31 carrying a pulley 32 around which extends a belt 33 which also extends around the hub 16 of one of said shafts.

It is evident that the above construction will permit an approximately correct representation to be obtained by moving pictures of the scenery past which a person travels at a rapid rate. The difierences in the velocities between the different portions of the artificial scenery secured to successive steps of the cone are too small to be noticeable in the time permitted by the passage of the moving pictures.

I claim:

1. In movin icture scenery, cones, means On said belt sections axes, and independent devices exhibiting representations ofscenery traveling around different portions of the cones.

2. In combination, a moving endless belt 5 or platform, independent devices exhibiting representations of scenery adjacent to the endless belt, and means for moving said devices in the same direction as the moving platform, the speeds of said devices decreasing progressively With their distances from the platform.

R. HARTWICK.

00pm of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

